Story+1988-04-17+St.+Louis,+MO

‘‘Man, I like this spring weather in St.Louis....that´s nice.....I got out and I went to that big, you know, that big Arch there, was out there yesterday, all the girls leave their winter clothes home.....well, back home when the weather gets like this, uh, I like to take a walk in the park, you know, see if any of my old friends are hanging around.... the birds are singing.....yo, hey man, hey, how you doing ? alright....good to see you, haven´t seen you in a little while, been busy and stuff, yeah, you never call me up, never call me up.....what you been up to ? yeah, what ? oh-oh, here come the baby pictures....there´s a little Big Man running around out there (chuckles) he´s got a little saxophone, he´s got a little suit, he´s, he’s three years old, he´s almost as big as me though already (chuckles)....there´s a lot of little babies running around now, in about 15 years there’s gonna be a E Street Band Volume 2...all women, all women (chuckles)....he looks great, he looks great, he´s handsome (chuckles), man, I remember we used to, we used to sit on this bench in 1975, you know....yeah, see there was this big office building down on the corner and like every day at 4.30 the girls would get out of work so me and Clarence used to come down and sit on this bench and we´d bring like a little lunch, you know, we´d bring a couple of beers in a paper bag and we’d sit here and wait for the girls to get out ‘cause they used to walk right down this street.....they used to get out right about this time....here they come.... check, uh, check this one, uh, the one in the red dress, the red dress, here she comes, here she comes.....(chuckles) alright, alright, ok, ok, I won’t embarrass (?) man, I remember I was with you, I was with you the night you met your wife, Clarence´d come running back to my room, knock on the door, he said ‘Bruce, Bruce, I’m in love’....now that wasn’t unusual, Clarence was always falling in love, you know.... he’d say ‘Bruce, Bruce, no you don´t understand, I met the girl I’m gonna marry’.... now, that wasn´t unusual, he was always meeting girls he was gonna marry (chuckles) and then you got married, that was unusual (chuckles) you know, that’s nice..... remember how it felt like when they first come walking in and they’re looking so fine and you´re trying to look real sharp, you know, and control yourself, you know, trying not to let them see who we really are, you know, we’ll save that for later (chuckles) anyway, back in Jersey, it feels kind of like this....come on, Richie, sing it, man....oh yeah, you know that romantic stuff, doing whatever she wants to do whenever she wants to do it....now, man, I gotta be home, I gotta be home at 6.30 now, (?) the dinner (?) I do, I do and then I gotta be.....I gotta be going, I gotta be in bed at 11.30 now, remember we used to stay up till 4 a.m ? 11.30, I get to watch ‘The Honeymooners’ for a half an hour, then I gotta switch the lights off, that’s when she goes to bed (chuckles) I’ll see you later, I’ll see you.....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘All That Heaven Will Allow’**

‘‘How you doing out there tonight ? (cheers)....how you guys way back there ? (cheers)(?)...that´s good....there was, uh, there was this fella and this girl....they met in a little bar in a small town....and, uh, they started going out....and, uh, he was the kind of a guy, I guess, uh, he was kind of sweet tempered, you know, telling jokes all the time, she liked him, she liked him a lot....and uh, they fell in love, they moved in with each other and uh, she got pregnant....they were gonna be married.....then something happened, I guess, he was, I don’t know, maybe he was too young....or he was too scared....he ran off....and uh, he ran off but she never really let him go....he was always on her mind and he was always in her heart.....and after a while it got so that that old dream that she had of him, all it did was break her heart over and over and over again ....compounded every day....and there comes a time, I guess, when you gotta take the past and you gotta put it away....and this is a song about a woman struggling to understand the value of her own individual existence....and the value of the life of her child....learning how to throw away her old dreams....and to find something new and beautiful and meaningful in her life now....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘Spare Parts’**

‘‘Alright, St.Louis....this is a song dedicated to, uh.....that great American pastime..... no, not that one, the other one....shopping.....oh yeah, I like to come into town, shop for some souvenirs, little keepsakes to put by my bedside at night....you got that Homeshopping Network out here ? (cheers)....I hate that damn thing....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘You Can Look’**

´´I got to regain my composure....is there anybody alive out there tonight ? (cheers)....is there anybody with the living, breathing spirit in them out there tonight ? (cheers) .... that´s good....that´s good....because what I want to know is are there any tough, brave, courageous St.Louis men out there tonight ? (cheers)....do we have any macho men out there tonight ? (cheers)....because I’ve known men that would swim rivers, that would climb mountains, that would wrestle with the beasts of the jungle.....but there was one thing they was afraid of, one thing scared ‘em to death and I’m gonna tell you what that one thing was.....I’m talking about L....U...V, I’m talking about love, do you hear me ? love scared ´em to death, made them run home like little babies to their mommies ....now, what I wanna know is are there any heroic, courageous, sexy St.Louis women out there tonight ? (cheers)....girls, are you out there ? (cheers)....that’s good because I’m talking to you too....I’ve known women that would jump out of an airplane at 30,000 feet, women that would date the horn section in this band, women that would canoe down the Amazon River wrestling with alligators and king snakes....but there was one thing they was afraid of....they were afraid of love, love scared ‘em, frightened ‘em, made ‘em pull back.....now, I’m down here tonight ‘cause I’ve got a confession I’ve got to make and what I wanna say is I have sinned !.... and I don´t need no Jim Baker, no Pat Robertson, no Jimmy Swaggert to forgive me, them boys can kiss my ass, baby....and that Jerry Falwell, he can kiss my ass three times ....I don´t care who you bring down here, bring down Hulk Hogan, bring down the Road Warriors, I’ll take ‘em on, I’m not afraid of those kinds of things but what I´ve got to confess to is, I’m a brave man but.....I’m a coward .....when it comes to love....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘I’m a Coward’**

‘‘They had this, uh.....tv-movie on two or three weeks ago....was, uh, Kirk Douglas and I think Jason Robards, they put this guy on trial for, uh....for, uh, teaching evolution, it went like this....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘Part Man Part Monkey’**

‘‘(?)....I knew I wanted to come out and sing a new song, that´s my job....and uh, I was thinking of what old songs we were gonna do and this was a song that....I wrote 15 years ago now....I was 24 years old, I was sitting on my bed in Long Branch, New Jersey....when I play this song now, it´s kind of, it’s funny because when I was that young, it seems like I asked myself questions in this song that I’ve been trying to find the answers to ever since.....I guess when I wrote it I thought I was writing about a guy and a girl who wanted to run and keep on running....but as I got older, I realised that I wanted to know where they were going, seems like I needed to know where they were going to find out where I was going....and as I sang this song through the years, I realised that they were out there searching, I guess searching for some place that they could call ‘home’...and as I got older I realised that home really wasn´t out there but it was buried deep inside of me somewhere.....it’s a hard place to get to and it’s a hard thing to hold on to....so, uh....well, this song’s kept me pretty good company on my search, I hope it’s kept you good company on your search.....so I wanna sing it for you now and dedicate it to you wishing....wishing, uh, with all my heart that you find everything you’re looking for.....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘Born to Run’**

‘‘And now to answer the burning questions of the evening....does the hero get the girl ? ....does her mama come down and stop ‘em ?....does her daddy come down and wring his neck ?.....does he end up broke, busted and disgusted ?...the answer to these and other mysteries will now be revealed....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘Rosalita’**

‘‘That ain’t the end of the story....they traveled down the highway, they found a little roadside bar, they went in, there was a little band on the bandstand, they got a couple of beers, they went up and requested a tune and the band leader said ‘One, two, one, two, three, four....”
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, intro to ‘Detroit Medley’**

´´Have you ever felt so lonely ?....I said have you ever been lonely out there ? (cheers) so lonely you just wanna cry, cry, cry now....that´s when you gotta reach out for a little help... somebody´s gonna remind you that you´re a real human being....that´s what I want....that´s what I....baby, that´s what I need, a partner....I just wanna say hey, come on, baby....´´
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, end of ´Dancing in the Dark´**

´´On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan.....on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg....on the guitar and vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren.....on the bass, Mr.Garry W.Tallent....on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici....and back on the horns, Eddie ´Kingfish´ Manion, Mr.Bamba, Mark ´The Love Man, the Incredible Individual´ Pender on the trumpet, Mike Spengler on the trumpet, Mario Cruz on the saxophone, the Tunnel of Love horns....and last but not least.....I ain´t gonna beat around the bush....the greatest man in the history of Western civilization....the handsomest man you have ever seen ....Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons on the saxophone....´´
 * 17.04.88 St.Louis, MO, middle of ´Light of Day´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//